A production or a prototype tool, such as a mold, die, or other object formation apparatus is used to repeatedly form or create substantially similar objects or products. Conventional tooling methodologies and strategies (e.g., stamping, molding, and casting) typically require a solid block of material (e.g., a wrought block of solid steel) to be machined, burned, or otherwise “worked” into a desired shape or form, thereby forming or creating a tool having a desired shape and geometrical configuration. While these strategies and methodologies do produce tools having a desired shape or form, these strategies and methodologies are relatively expensive and inefficient and/or time consuming.
Alternatively, the tool may be formed by a laminar process in which various sectional members or laminates are created and selectively coupled (e.g., by gluing, bolting, welding, or bonding), effective to allow the coupled members or laminates to cooperatively form the tool (i.e., as the separate and respective laminates are formed, they are stacked and coupled to collectively form the desired tool). Particularly, the laminar process of forming a tool is a relatively cost effective, efficient, and simple method for producing production and/or prototype tools.
However, tools which are formed by a laminar process are oftentimes structurally weaker or suffer from an overall weaker constitution than those formed by the conventional process of machining due to a failure to adequately or fully and rigidly secure the sections or laminates together. Any movement in the sections will undesirably cause the surface of tool to change, thereby causing the production of inferior and “out of tolerance” components. Moreover, a further drawback associated with laminated tooling is the difficulty in developing or creating a smooth continuous angled surface formed by adjacently coupled laminates or sectional plates. That is, “knife edges” typically exist between adjacent sections or laminates which cooperately form a greatly varying surface contour. A “knife edge” is an edge or axis which is disposed within a greatly varying surface formed by a pair of adjacently coupled laminates. By way of example and without limitation, these “knife edges” undesirably disturb the relatively smooth transition between adjacently coupled plates or laminates, thereby causing a poor and undesirable surface finish. Moreover, these “knife edges” are very thin and relatively fragile and are likely to prematurely fail and become easily damaged during machining and finishing. Moreover, when a tool having “knife edges” is used in injection molds, the injected material tends to peel the laminate in the vicinity of the knife edges, thereby significantly lowering the usable life of the tool. Moreover, such “knife edges” make the tolerances associated with and required of the production parts very difficult to maintain. Hence, it should be realized that each of the aforementioned problems or drawbacks results in a substantially ineffective tool, higher production costs, and inefficient overall operation.
There is therefore a need for a method to selectively create a laminated tool which overcomes some or all of the previously delineated drawbacks of prior techniques and strategies. Moreover, there is a further need to form a laminated tool, by the use of a method which allows for “knife edges” to be seamlessly “blended” or eliminated in a relatively fast, inexpensive, and efficient manner. There is also a need to form a relatively strong tool which overcomes some or all of the previous delineated disadvantages of pror tools formed by a laminar process. These and other needs are addressed by the present invention, as is more fully delineated below.